The gospel on celebrity and pop culture

Sandra Bullock and baby Louis: the secret viewed in hindsight

April 30, 2010 | 5:09
pm

What didn't we know, and when didn't we know it?

Celebrity gossip sites have been trolling the records for clues that Sandra Bullock had a new little man in her life, Louis Bardo Bullock, whose adoption was announced Wednesday in what the Ministry's Preach It! column called "one of the most ninja public relations moves ... out of an A-list celebrity since Angelina Jolie hooked up with the United Nations."

Turns out there were a few good clues.

In her lead actress Oscar acceptance speech, Bullock thanked "what this film was about for me, which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from," and also thanked her late mother "for reminding her daughters that there's no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love."

And on a more nuts-and-bolts level, TMZ noticed that Bullock paid special attention ...

... in taking her trash to the curb (timing it possibly so passersby wouldn't smell dirty diapers), and that photographer Chi-Lin Sun entered the home right after the Oscars toting a selection of baby togs.

Also, Bullock's home in New Orleans was purchased by a corporation named Big Easy Bebe LLC, which TMZ said was created in June 2009. Vans from an Austin-based moving company were spotted unloading at the house on Thursday morning, E! Online reports.

Why the secrecy? It was the middle of awards season and even without the scandal that was to ensue, "the outside world was a little crazy then," the actress told People.

"Photographers waiting outside 24/7, people everywhere," she told the magazine. "We didn't want this to be in his life. I also didn't want Louis pulled into the awards season energy. I wanted him all to myself."

She and James obviously had to tell his kids, who Bullock said "knew this had to be kept quiet." Beyond that, she said, "We told only a handful of family and friends, and it then became their mission to make sure Louis was safe and happy and had everything he needed."

According to PopEater, even "Most Beautiful Person" Julia Robertshad no clue she was about to be bumped off People's cover to make room for Bullock's big news.

As for the secret staying secret in the first place: "That's amazing, especially in this world, where every orderly or valet
will sell their mother for the price of dinner," celebrity publicist Howard Bragman told USA Today.

"It
really speaks to the kind of person she is and the kind of people she
surrounds herself with."

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Top photo: A man looks at copies of the latest People magazine featuring Sandra
Bullock and her son Louis Bardo Bullock in New
York on April 28, 2010. Credit: Jeff Christensen / AP